Transgender man speaks about alleged sex assault at hands of Winnipeg taxi driver

The victim of an alleged sexual assault by a Winnipeg taxi driver is speaking out about the encounter and the nightmares that "don't go away."

"I'm trying to manage best I can by being brave, but sometimes I have moments where I can't be brave anymore and I just break down. It's been rough," said the22-year-oldtransgenderman, whoCBC news is not identifying.

"I have a hard time leaving my house alone. I haven't really been able to eat because I feel sick all the time. Sleeping is not impossible but I have nightmares and they don't go away."

The man saidhe was heading home late at night onMay 15when the cab suddenly turnedinto a back alley and stopped. That's when the male driver attacked him, the man said.

"He made advances on me that I didn't want him to and then he assaulted me," the 22-year-old man said.

"He didn't care at all that I wasn't OK with anything he was doing. He was so calm. It was eerie and the way he spoke was just skin-crawling.

"I tried to pull his hand away and I tried to pull him away but he was stronger than I was.I don't know how long it lasted, it felt like it lasted forever. It felt like eternity."

When it was over, the man told the cabbie hewanted to go home, so the driver sat back down and drove the man to his destination.

Once there, "I threw the money at him and ran back in the house," the man said.

The 55-year-old driverhas been charged with sexual assault and attempting to obstruct justice.

• Winnipeg taxi driver charged with sexual assault

The victim said he didn'tphonepolice until the next day because he was in shock that night.

According to police,the driver,having learned abouta police investigation into the incident, went to the man's home on May 24 and offered himmoney to drop thecomplaint.

"I personally didn't speak with him, I just saw him out the window. But he spoke with my roommates, trying to get them to convince me to come out to drop the charges," the man said.

"They basically said 'No that's not going to happen. You're going to jail. You have to leave.'"

The man said it was extremely upsetting that the drivercame to his house.

"It was absolutely terrifying, I didn't know what to do. I was in absolute shock," he said.

"It made me feel very unsafe and very afraid, and now I feel like I have to move because he knows where I live."

Unicityconfirms suspect was part-time driver

Sunny Dhir, Unicity Taxi'sgeneral manager, said the suspect was a part-time driver for the company but that the man's license has now been suspended, which he said is the same thing as "firing him."

"I really feel sorry that this happened, and we are offering our support to the victim," he said. "It's very damaging for the company's reputation and the [victim's] safety. We are really ashamed he drove for Unicity."

Dhir said he's notified police and the taxi cab board about the suspension, addingthe driver will no longerbe able to punch in his ID to drivea Unicity car.

He could not say how long the man drove for Unicity.

The suspect's lawyer, Eric Wach, said his client was released on bail Friday.

Victim misgendered

The victim, who was born female but began transitioning at age 18, was identified in a news release from Winnipeg police on Thursday as a woman.

He said he forgives them for that.

"At first I was a little angry about themisgenderingbut when I contacted people they were very kind and supportive about my pronouns," he said, addingpolice have been supportive throughout the ordeal.

The man said he wanted to talk about the incident because "it's important that people know that it's a possibility that it could happen to anybody, no matter what your gender or race is. It could happen to anyone and people should be more cautious about who they trust."

He doesn't think hisbeing transgender played any role in the assault.

"I think it was just ignored. I think he just didn't care that I was atransman, and I think maybe he doesn't believe intranspeople, liketransphobic. Because he still continued to call me a woman even though I had explicitly told him I was a male and I had been transitioning for a while now."